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Key Lessons Learnt from Stakeholder Management in Design and Build

Projects in Qatar (CIC 2020) Paper ID:107

Conference Paper · February 2020

DOI: 10.29117/cic.2020.0019

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International Conference on Civil Infrastructure and Construction (CIC 2020)
February 2-5, 2020 Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

Key Lessons Learnt from Stakeholder Management in Design and Build

Projects in Qatar (CIC 2020)
Paper ID:107
Larno Meyer
lmeyer@ashghal.gov.qa
Highway Projects Department, Public Works Authority
Doha, Qatar

Ali Kara
akara@ashghal.gov.qa
Highway Projects Department, Public Works Authority
Doha, Qatar

ABSTRACT

Stakeholders in the construction industry require accurate, reliable and timely information in
order to streamline the design and construction of Projects. Design Bid Build or Design and Build
contracts need a process for seeking the latest requirements, interests and existing assets of all the
stakeholders involved. This to lead and guide the projects to deliver in a timely, cost-effective and
safe manner.

This paper summarizes the multi-discipline Stakeholder management challenges and their
proactive approach during the execution of the Expressway Programme by Public Works Authority,
Qatar illustrated by a case study and actual actions from the industry. Various internal surveys have
been undertaken to assess the issues to be resolved. Key to managing the time and cost impacts on
the construction projects are identifying the needs of stakeholders, stakeholder communication
procedures, their requirements, identification of existing assets, expected future requirements and
decisions among the stakeholder. Unique and innovation construction procedures are highlighted in
order to overcome construction challenges.

Keywords: Stakeholders Management, Stakeholder Communication, Qatar Expressway

Programme

1 INTRODUCTION

Qatar- Public Works Authority‟s ( Ashghal ) Highway Projects Department set out to deliver
over 45 major Expressway Road Projects to be completed before the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
These projects accounts for over 800 km of new major road network improvements (together with
the road improvement works also for the local road projects). These projects were needed to help
resolve the traffic congestion due to the increase in population and economic growth of Qatar.

To be able to deliver this large number of major projects in the Expressway Programme
within Ashghal various stakeholders had to be consulted to understand their requirements and
inputs to each project and to obtain their approvals to proceed into construction. These stakeholders
involve both the internal and external groups of people from various departments, ministries, utility
authorities and private entities.

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2 UNDERSTANDING THE MULTI-DISCIPLINE STAKEHOLDER APPROVAL
CHALLENGES

Due to the large number of major projects and stakeholders that must be managed
simultaneously, it lead to various multi-discipline stakeholder approval challenges across the
projects‟ design and construction interfaces. This formed part of the initial key lessons learnt. The
Project Teams should fully understanding how the multi-discipline engineering interfaces influence
each other during the design development. Each project has Traffic, Roads, Utility and Structure
Engineering Teams working along with their Project Management and Project Controls Teams.
Projects all have multiple interfaces that need to collaborate effectively during design and
construction.

These multi-discipline interfaces include for example, the work on the initial traffic analysis
needed to produce concept designs, the road geometry, all the different utility corridors (both new
and existing), multiple large structures (bridges and tunnels), limiting land acquisition and
environmental impacts, improving road safety, integration with public transport modes, ensuring
proper risk management and controlling the overall cost and schedule. Various engineering
disciplines therefore needed to work together to complete projects on time and on budget. Each of
these engineering disciplines required various stakeholder approvals. It was therefore necessary to
identify all the stakeholders for each discipline‟s approval as early as possible in the Expressway
Programme.

3 THE IMPORTANCE OF STAKEHOLDER IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS

Stakeholders are those groups or individuals that can influence and impact a project. Or they
can be affected by a project. Stakeholders can have a positive or negative influence on a project [1].
It is therefore important to identify all stakeholders for each project as early as possible and to start
engaging with each stakeholder.

Another key lesson was to understand the full scope and scale of all stakeholders involved
with Ashghal‟s projects. For each of Ashghal‟s projects there can be more 10 internal stakeholders
(Departments and Sections) and more than 30 external stakeholders (Ministries, Utility Authorities,
Private Entities and their different internal departments). It requires full collaboration with each
stakeholder during the duration of the projects from design stage to construction.

After identifying the specific stakeholders, Stakeholder Analysis (Schmeer,1999) is also

required to identify the different types of stakeholders involved and how each stakeholder may
influence or impact a project. Some stakeholders have higher levels of power and influence which
can approve or oppose decisions on a project. Other stakeholders can help provide expert opinions,
inputs and support even if they do not have direct interest in a project‟s delivery. There are also
stakeholders that need to know the progress of work as it can influence their own activities and
work to be completed. It is therefore necessary to make use of stakeholder analysis techniques to
help understand how to engage and communicate to each stakeholder.

3.1 Stakeholder Analysis Techniques

There are several Stakeholder Analysis Techniques that can be used to understand the interest
and influence of each Stakeholder and how to manage each of these stakeholders. These analysis
techniques are also visual mapping tools to help guide the Project Teams on who to focus on as key
stakeholders. The Stakeholder Analysis Techniques can include for example:

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  2x2 Grid Analysis (Power / Influence vs. Interest or Influence vs. Impact, Figure 1,
(Mendelow, 1981)
 Salience stakeholder analysis (Venn Diagram) (Mitchell, Agle, B. and Wood, D.
1997).
 Stakeholder Circles to reflect the influence of stakeholders on a project (Bourne,
Walker, DHT. 2005)

Figure 1: 2x2 Analysis Grid (Power/Influence vs. Interest) (Mendelow, 1981)

4 STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

4.1 Stakeholder Communication Plans and Procedures

As part of the PMI Project Management Process Groups and Knowledge Area, is the
important requirement of Stakeholder Management and Engagement (PMI, Chapter-1, 2017). This
also includes Planning the Communication Management (PMI, Chapter-10, 2017) and the specific
procedures to follow for each stakeholder identified. The following questions can be asked to obtain
an initial understanding of what should be considered in the Stakeholder Engagement and
Communication Planning:

 Who are the key stakeholder decision makers to engage and communicate to for
approvals?
 What are these stakeholders‟ requirements and procedures to follow to obtain their
inputs and approvals?
 How often to report and follow up with each stakeholder (weekly, bi-weekly or
monthly)?

4.2 Implementing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs)

Various Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were implemented between Ashghal and

external authorities to improve the approval processes. These MoUs sets out the agreed principles,
accepted expectations and requirements that Ashghal and each Authority will follow. It helped to
ensure better collaboration and understanding between all involved using a less formal contractual
agreement process. It also helped to define the needs and actions for each stakeholder. These MoUs
have been setup following various workshops and discussion. This to obtain the inputs needed to
formulate each Memorandum of Understanding.
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5 UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEXITY IN STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATION

Complexity in project communication results when there are multi-discipline interfaces across
multiple stakeholders simultaneously. This while also dealing with changing deliverables to be
delivered with available resources. As projects are fast-moving and requirement changes are many
times undefined, ambiguity and miscommunication or misinterpretation can also result. This
increases the complexity of delivering projects in time and on budget.

5.1 Equation to calculate the number of communication channels between stakeholders

In Project Management there is an equation (PMI, Chapter-10, 2013) that defines the
number of communication channels (links) between all individuals or groups of people. This
equation can help to indicate the complexity of a project, as it reflects on the number of
communication channels involved. As the number of communication channels increase, the more
complex a project will become. This includes stakeholder communication. Also, more
communication channels can result in miscommunication or misinterpretation which can cause
delays in project approvals. The following is the equation that can show the number of
Communication Channels involved.

Number of Communication Channels (links) = (1)

N = number of individuals or groups

Figure 2: Graph showing the Number of communication channels between stakeholders

The graph in Figure 2, shows that if 100 people are involved across the various stakeholders,
then there will be close to 5 000 communication channels (links) created between all the people.
Should this number of people double, then the number of communication channels will increase
from 5 000 to 20 000 (400%). Therefore it is important to understand that if more people are
involved the complexity in communication will increase. This can contribute to delaying approval
processes if not managed well.

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5.2 The importance of reducing the number of communication channels between multiple
Stakeholders

It is very important to identify the key communication contacts within each stakeholder. This
to limit the number of people to communicated to. Channels of communication should be setup
through each key communication contact in each stakeholder. This will reduce the number of direct
communication links and simplify the complexity of communication across each project.

For example, instead of having to deal directly with more than 100 individual contacts across
the different stakeholders, one should aim to focus only of the key decision makers who can report
back to their teams. By reducing the number of people to communicate to, the complexity can be
reduced. This is return can also help to reduce miscommunication and ambiguity or
misunderstandings which can delay approvals.

5.3 The importance of Cultural Awareness and Cross-Cultural Communication Styles

Another key lesson learnt in working in a multi-cultural environment with people coming
from across the world, is the complexity in how people communicate and relate to each other. The
PMI PMBOK 6th Edition (2017), provides a good summary and states the following: “Cultural
awareness is an understanding of the differences between individuals, groups, and organizations
and adapting the project’s communication strategy in the context of these differences. This
awareness and any consequent actions minimize misunderstandings and miscommunication that
may result from cultural differences within the project’s stakeholder community. Cultural
awareness and cultural sensitivity help the project manager to plan communications based on the
cultural differences and requirements of stakeholders and team members.”

6 INNOVATIVE DIGITAL SYSTEMS FOR STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND

COMMUNICATION DURING THE REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESSES

6.1 QDES / QDRS – Stakeholder review and approval system for design

Ashghal‟s Online Qatar Design Enquiry System (QDES) or also refer to as Qatar Design
Review System (QDRS) have been implemented to enhance stakeholder engagement and
communication during the approval process. These systems helped to improve sharing information
and speed up the coordination between stakeholders.

It provides more transparency of work activities done by various stakeholders across Qatar
and helps to identify potential clashes and overlaps. It also provides a paperless web base
submission platform that helped to reduce the overall time. The system provides a time line to
follow, which helped to expedite the review process that took longer in the past. Should the time
line not being followed, the application is automatically cancelled by system.

6.2 QPro – Road Opening Permits, Approval to work in Right of Way ( ROW )

Similar to Ashghal‟s QDES/QDRS systems, the QPRO system has been created to process
Road Opening and Occupancy permit approvals. This applies for all Stakeholders. It is a mandatory
process and also applies to the construction phase.

If for example, a Utility Authority wants to implement a new pipe or cable within the Right of
Way, they need to obtain from Ashghal a Road Opening Permit approval to do the work within

5
Right of Way (ROW). This process helps to control the work done by the different stakeholders
within their respective ROW corridors.

QPRO is dependent on QDES/QDRS system and forms part of the approval process. It is
mandatory for all stakeholders to apply for a Road Opening Permit on the QPRO system by using a
unique Design Review number for any work associated with excavation.

6.3 IBM BlueWorks – Work flow and Process guidelines

IBM‟s BlueWorks is a business process modeling tool that is based on a Flow Chart driven
web portal. This tool provides access to all Ashghal‟s processes and procedures with the related
documentation and reference to the internal stakeholders (Departments, Sections) involved. It
provides a quick visual step by step process of decision points and approvals needed with the
related forms and documents involved.

7 HIGHWAY PROJECT DEPARTMENT CASE STUDY AND LESSONS LEARNT

The following is a case study for the Highway Project Department (HPD). The diagram below
Figure 3 indicates the main internal and external stakeholder interfaces and interactions in relation
to HPD. This reflects on all approval processed from Concept Design Stage to Preliminary and
Detail Design approvals and then the Tendering and Construction Stages.

MoTC – Ministry of Transportation & Communication

MME - Ministry of Municipalities & Environment
RDD – Road Design Department
RPD - Road Projects Department (Local Roads)
LRD – Local Roads & Drainage Department
RMD – Road Maintenance Department
External Stakeholders include for example:
Kahramaa, MoI, PEO, QP, QRail & Ooredoo

Figure 3: Highway Projects Department (HPD) Case Study

During the duration of a HPD project, which involves all of these multiple interfaces and
interactions with internal and external stakeholder, it became clear that the following issues had to
be resolved as part of improving the stakeholder engagement and communication processes:

 Internal approval issues and/or conflicts between departments with different views.
 Internal and External Stakeholder communication issues between departments/
Sections (misinterpretation / miscommunication issues).
 Missing, unclear or changing standards, requirements and guidelines not fully and
officially communicated to all involved and in a timely matter.
 Lack of interest or not needing to be involved, delaying the approval as it is not a
priority
 Impacts on External stakeholder works, causing approval delays to finalize their own
work first.
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 An example of where good stakeholder coordination benefited the community and improved
safety, is along the new Sabah Al Ahmad Road Corridor between Salwa and Al Waab Roads. To
ensure the safety of school children during the ongoing construction and temporary traffic
management, an additional school bus service has been added. This avoided children to cross the
Construction Work Zone area and the temporary traffic road diversions.

Also for the Temporary Traffic Management coordination with MoI Traffic Police made it
possible to decide on the most effective way to accommodate the traffic flows during construction
in a very restricted urban area.

Other example includes the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Qatar Electricity and
Water Co. MoU helped to improve the approval processes for water and electrical utility corridors
and electrical substations. Ashghal HPD also holds regular high-level stakeholder coordination
meetings where major issues on projects are discussed to obtain high level approval.

8 CONCLUSION

From the above it is concluded that stakeholder management is vital to the success of any
project and even more when there are multiple major projects placed in design and construction at
the same time. A large number of people from a diverse background will be involved across both
the internal and external stakeholders. Should a multi-discipline project team fail to understand the
various interfaces involved across a project (which requires full collaboration with multiple
stakeholders), then long costly delays may result.

Project Teams should identify all stakeholders and their influence and interest to a project.
Also each stakeholder‟s most current requirements for approval should be checked as early as
possible. The project teams should ensure proper stakeholder communication plans are setup. And
the number of key stakeholder contacts should be limited to avoid introducing unnecessary
communication complexity which can lead to miscommunication and delays in approvals. Also, the
use of information technology and the development of it, help to improve better stakeholder
engagement and communication. Successful stakeholder engagement and management will result in
the safe, cost and time effective delivery of projects.

REFERENCES
Bourne, L. Walker, DHT. (2005), Visualising and Mapping Stakeholder Influence, Management Decision, 43(5),
649660.

IBM BlueWorks Business Process Modeling, https://www.ibm.com/products/blueworkslive

Mitchell, R., Agle, B. and Wood, D. (1997). Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the
Principle of Who and What Really Counts. The Academy of Management Review, 22 (4), pp. 853-886

Mendelow, A.L. (1981) „Environmental Scanning - The Impact of the Stakeholder Concept, ICIS 1981 Proceedings,
Paper 20
Project Management Institute, PMI, (2013), A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide,
5th Ed), Chapter 10, 10.1.2.1, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA

Project Management Institute, PMI, (2017), A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide,
6th Ed), Chapter 13, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA.

Project Management Institute (PMI), 2017, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide,
6th Ed), Chapter 10, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA

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 Project Management Institute, PMI, (2017), A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide,
6th Ed), Chapter 10, 10.1.2.6 (Cultural Awareness), Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA

Schmeer, K, (1999). Guidelines for conducting a stakeholder analysis.

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